In each of us, in a hidden form, are all the desires that will manifest themselves on the path of personal development from this moment to the very end of correction. The question is how to reveal and realize them in practice to accelerate one’s development.

Each person is like a baby in whom vast forces of growth are hidden. Our task is to reveal these forces and internal reserves through studying Kabbalah, joining in a group and prayer, and making every effort to transfer these forces from potential to action, from concealment to revelation.

The most effective way to do this is to work in a group because it is precisely there that these hidden forces arise. At first we all existed as one system— Adam haRishon. But it was shattered and then everyone lost the entire vast arsenal of powers, properties, knowledge, and sensations belonging to the complete system of the common soul.

And now everyone is left to exist as one small separate cell of the body in which he feels only his own temporary life as separate from others. This kind of existence is called a man of this world.

However, such a life does not bring happiness. We must return to the single system of Adam haRishon and realize ourselves in it with all our might, which means to connect with everyone else. Now we are given the opportunity to connect with our friends in the ten and return to group work, which is the first stage of the reconnection of Adam’s common system.

Information genes (Reshimot) are hidden in each of us and our entire path from today to the end of correction is placed in them until the revelation of the complete system of Adam haRishon. We are obliged to realize them. And the upper light continues to act, revealing more and more shattering if we do not keep up with correcting the system ahead of time. It turns out that we are going through increasingly difficult states of shattering in this world.

But if we strive to unite, we will find that our condition is improving. The goal of all evolution is to return us to a corrected state.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/22, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Medium published my new article “Why Does Violence Increase in Society?”

Year after year, violence in society surges. American concern over crime and violence is at its highest level since 2016, with 53% of Americans worried “a great deal” about it, according to a recent Gallup poll. This makes it one of the top national concerns, surpassed only by inflation and the economy.

How can we treat violence at its root and stop it? The answer lies in addressing human nature, which is the root cause of violence. Our nature is egoism, a desire to have satisfaction, a desire to enjoy as much as possible at the expense of others, and it constantly grows. From generation to generation egoism evolves and aggressiveness increases.

The inanimate, vegetative and animal levels also have a desire to receive for themselves, but at low levels. The inanimate only wants to hold on to itself, the vegetative takes from the environment to grow, the animal moves and wanders to find food, a place to live, give birth to offspring. In human beings, the desire to receive reaches such a great level that it leads to violence, to the deliberate harm of others for self-benefit.

Humans are the only creatures that enjoy and feel even more successful when they succeed in destroying others in the process.

People erupt violently when they feel their ego does not get the satisfaction it needs. They are unable to calm and restrain themselves, and finally the wrath erupts on someone around them. A person beats, attacks, and even kills in extreme situations. Even if they are aware that they might get killed as well, it still does not make them refrain from the necessity of venting their anger at that moment. They must liberate what explodes inside them.

In addition to the constant intensification of the ego that evokes violent impulses from within, there is also the influence of the environment. We are social creatures and are greatly influenced by what we see in the media, on social networks, and on the roads.

In the age of great egoism being violent has become a common practice in society. Almost everywhere, from the parliament to the queue at the supermarket, there is a forceful and violent atmosphere. It is considered a show of strength when one manages to humiliate and subdue the other. It affects relationships in the family, at work, in schools, in any interaction between people.

What can help? Only education for proper person-to-person engagement. It should begin from infancy and continue throughout life. Ostensibly, today we educate against violence, the problem is that children see around them examples opposite of what they are taught. Many times, we as adults are impatient, aggressive, stressed, and speak rudely. We cannot preach the nice treatment of others and being courteous, when we act harshly to other people.

The first thing on the way to a change of direction is to recognize that we have a fundamental social problem related to people’s intensifying egoism. It is like a cancerous growth that eats us from within and does not let us live and get along with each other well.

We need to explore ourselves in depth, understand how to transform our nature from a destructive force into a connecting lever.

By and large, reality shows that fear of punishment or preaching morality about appropriate behavior is not enough to suppress violence in society. We need to fundamentally change human nature so that we learn to respect others instead of caring only about ourselves. Only in this way can we ensure that no violent impulses arise in us.

In tomorrow’s world, the main occupation of humanity will be just that: to learn how to treat each other properly, how to improve human relationships. Computers and robots will take a lot of work off our shoulders and give us time to learn and practice how to deal with each other properly, in complementarity, in mutual understanding. Only when there are such corrected relationships between us can we guarantee ourselves a life without violence.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Israeli Ideology and the Next Revolution”

With all the turmoil happening around the world, it makes one wonder when and where the next revolution might take place, and what ideology it will promote, if any. There is a difference between a coup and a revolution. In the first, one leader overthrows another in a struggle for power. In the second, one ideology, one worldview takes the place of another. The latter kind is what interests me, especially when it comes to the Israeli ideology.

By “Israeli ideology,” I am not referring to Zionism, but to the ideology that engendered the Jewish people. It is an ideology that emerged nearly forty centuries ago, adapted its manifestations to the times, and survived nearly twenty centuries until it went into a coma in the first centuries of the Common Era.

The progenitor of this ideology was Abraham, the biblical revolutionary who proposed a conceptual revolution to his Babylonian countryfolk and was expelled from his homeland as a punishment. Abraham discovered that only one force operates all of reality and sought to share his revelation with his people. But just as Galileo, who was forced to renounce his discovery that the Earth circles the Sun and not the other way around, said, E pur si muove (And yet it moves), Abraham insisted on the validity of his revelation that there is only one force. For this, he was exiled.

Unlike Galileo, Abraham was not alone. Thousands of people followed him and set off a movement based on a novel perception of reality. That movement became the Hebrews, the Israelites, and finally the Jews, and their ideology was based on unity as a means to become similar to the singular force. Accordingly, they established their society on the principle of mutual responsibility, and strove to love each other as themselves.

It was not easy to pursue such an unnatural paradigm, but the rewards they reaped when they succeeded were enormous. Alternatively, the torments they suffered when they abandoned their ideology were equally horrendous.

At around the beginning of the Common Era, Abraham’s spiritual heirs had lost touch with their ideology. The basic tenets of mutual responsibility and love of others, through which Abraham had established his society, and whose descendants kept with all their might, had vanished from among the Jews and they dispersed around the world.

There have been countless revolutions since Abraham’s revolution, but none was quite like his: aspiring to bring all of humankind into a state of unity and mutual responsibility through personal transformation of people’s own volition. The revolutions we have seen since then attempted to force people into social structures that they believed were just, but they did not aspire to establish them on free choice, but on forced conversion. Abraham, the man of mercy, only offered his ideas, and those who agreed with him had joined him.

In the middle of the previous century, Baal HaSulam, the great kabbalist and thinker, wrote the following chilling words: “humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as with Germany, or to the extreme left, ‎as with Russia. But not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened ‎the malady and agony, and the voices rise up to heaven, as we all know.”

Today, when we are all connected in so many ways, when we infect each other with viruses, deny each other gas, food, computer chips that cripple our economies, it is clear that we need another ideological revolution. As Baal HaSulam wrote, we have tried all the extremes, and they have all failed us. Therefore, I do not think we need a new ideology, but simply to awaken Abraham’s forty-century-old ideology from its coma, and strive to unite as one, in similarity with the one force that operates reality. If we do so, we will find ourselves living in a calm and durable world, without scarcity or misery.
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Medium published my new article “The Complexities of the Connection between Looks and Happiness”

With teenagers and young adults spending much (too much) of their time on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms, the flood of videos of attractive young people shapes their views on how they, too, must look. With their body image shaped and carved by the curves of models, a barrage of messages tells our children: “You don’t look good enough! You need to lose more weight! You have to lift more weights!” And because their body image can never meet the standard set by social media, they are condemned to incurable frustration and insecurity.

Were we not social beings, we would not mind our looks. Animals could care less about their looks. They only care about their physical strength.

For us, looks are everything. We cannot go anywhere or achieve anything without meeting the required visual standard. Whatever the society we’re in respects, we must adopt. Otherwise, we are excluded from society. This is why we are so insecure about our looks.

The standards of society are created by unrealistic films, TV series, and photoshopped images. We, who cannot meet the unachievable benchmark, are left insecure and frustrated. We would be much more relaxed and much less affected by looks were it not for the influence of the media.

Without the influence of the environment, we would wash our faces and hands in the morning and that would conclude our “grooming.” But we cannot settle for this; we have to shower, shave, put on makeup, pick through our wardrobe, and do everything else that we do in the morning just to feel presentable enough to face the day.

These days, it is as true of men as it is true of women. In a generation where appearance means everything, and substance means nothing, we have no choice but to comply.

My teacher, RABASH, used to say that if he had the choice, he would never change from the pajamas he slept in. They were warm, cozy, with big pockets, and who could ask for more?

People on secluded islands always look disheveled. It is not because they are poor and cannot afford to shave or shower or buy clothes. Because they are alone, they have no need to impress anyone and no dress code to meet. Therefore, they have no regard for their looks. They could be strong and healthy, yet look a mess, since appearance is only for the onlookers.

The significance of looks does not begin at adolescence. Even three-year-olds feel it. They may not understand it at that age, but they are already influenced by social codes.

As with adults, so it is with children. If we want them to increase the importance of substance over appearance, of personality over looks, we must inculcate these values into their society. As a result, everyone within that society will adopt this line of thought.

Conversely, if we want our children to fit into the social code of appearance so they would be popular in their age group, we have to do it very carefully. If, for example, a girl is overweight but cannot maintain a diet, we must not comment on her weight. On the contrary, we should help her accept who she is just as she is. If, however, we know that we can help her lose weight and improve her image among her friends, we should encourage her to do so.

Either way, a confident person will not be put down. People do not mock people’s appearance if they seem at ease with it.

As for looking aesthetic, this is a different story. I do not think we should look disheveled or rumpled or unclean when in society. We should not look repulsive, but maintain our appearance in a manner that is pleasant for the people around us. This has nothing to do with looks, but with mutual consideration and decency toward the people around us. And this is true not only for me, but also for my children; they, too, need to be presentable.

In conclusion, if we want to prevent unnecessary frustration and insecurity, we need to install a more balanced body-image in society, one that does not require people to starve themselves or exercise to exhaustion.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Alternative Network to ‘The Mapping Project’”

The Mapping Project is an undertaking closely resembling what was done during the Nazi era when Jewish businesses were singled out and marked in preparation for the Kristallnacht pogroms in 1938. The project—a database recently launched for Massachusetts which includes the addresses of synagogues, Jewish organizations, businesses, institutions and names of their staffers accused of being behind “the colonization of Palestine”—shows that the enemies of Israel are constantly adopting new and more daring forms of attack against us.

Those behind The Mapping Project, a new version of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, do not reveal their identities but are not shy about disclosing their dangerous intentions. “Our goal in pursuing this collective mapping was to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them,” can be read on their website. The FBI is investigating the origin and potential threats of this initiative which links the support for Zionist causes to white supremacy, US “imperialism”, and “other harms” in society.

I hope our haters will not be able to weaken us, but there is still something to fear. They have great power because inside every person there is a potential antisemite that can be triggered, and the haters of Israel and the Jewish people in general can always be trusted to know how to move their tentacles and expand their reach.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, in many antisemitic initiatives such as the BDS movement and others, those helping our haters are Jews themselves. For generations, Jews have been associated with antisemites, and they are the greatest haters of their own nation when they reject the vocation to unite “as one man with one heart,” for which our nation was founded.

True Judaism works to sweeten the innate egoistic desire within every person and directs all human beings towards connection under the tenet, “love your neighbor as yourself,” as the supreme rule for the Jewish people. This same precept should also bring the rest of humanity to embrace and support one another and to connect with the Creator. That is the true Zionist approach. The opposite—meaning, separation, war, hatred, mutual rejection—is anti-Zionism.

There is such a big struggle and gap between these two opposing visions that there is no middle ground that connects them. Therefore, based on my own experience, there is no point in getting into arguments with antisemites. In the past, I have tried to talk to them logically. I invited them for open conversations hoping to change their minds, and nothing helped.

The silver lining of this situation is that antisemites actually help Zionists—by spitting fire at us, they prevent us from falling asleep on duty. This is how Jews from all walks of life wake up and come closer to realizing the Jewish-Zionist idea.

Now that the mapping project targeting us is emerging, we must strengthen and act beyond the mutual ego that separates us, create an ironclad bond between us, and through it connect with the force that controls everything in reality, the force which is the foundation of the Israeli nation.

We should not waste effort building any network especially to counter-attack our haters, but instead should build a network of connection and love between us, and through that, our haters will fall. We do not have to look in their direction; we have to look in our own direction, in how much we achieve a deep connection of our hearts, desires, passions, goals, so we can build one common goal of mutual support. This connection will be the solid and lasting Jewish network that no enemy that raises its head against us will be able to breach.
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Question: Elon Musk bought the social network Twitter. As you know, he is a supporter of total freedom of speech. But the EU authorities said that there should be no particular freedom here. He must comply with the laws adopted in the EU, otherwise his social network will be fined or even blocked in a significant part of the territory of the European Union.

Who do you think is right here? Should freedom of speech be restricted or allowed to exist?

Answer: There is no freedom in our world and it can only be this way as long as our world exists in this form. In this case, I absolutely agree with the European Union.

Comment: But everyone wants freedom of speech.

My Response: So let everyone get out to the streets and shout. This cry will be everywhere, yet nobody will listen to or understand each other. This will be freedom of speech.

If this will be the true freedom of speech, nobody will listen to anyone because everyone will only yell something of their own.

Question: So what is the freedom of speech that everyone is talking about?

Answer: For them it is an opportunity to shout.

Question: What is freedom of speech for you?

Answer: For me, freedom of speech is freedom to remain silent. Keep silent. The most correct thing for a person is when he stops talking. Let’s all stop opening our mouths, meaning, putting pressure, influencing, smooth talking, and deceiving each other. Let’s just close this verbal communication path of ours, turn off all newspapers, televisions, and the rest.

Comment: So let us fantasize that newspapers and mass media are shut down and silence has arrived.

My Response: Not just silence, but some kind of fading and freezing of all connections. The world is frozen.

This is when a person will begin to feel himself. Not that he is being yelled at and pressed from all sides, but instead he will begin to feel: who I am, what I am, for what purpose, what I want. And he has nothing else except this: “I want to say something, but what should I tell them? What do others expect from me? Or what do I need to convey to others? It turns out, I don’t have freedom of speech.” That’s what a person will discover.

Freedom of speech is when you really have something to bring to people as the most important, sacred, most useful for them, then one doesn’t need to buy Twitter.

Question: What will then become of this world?

Answer: Opening hearts in order for people to understand each other without words. That is all.

How many billions did he pay for Twitter? What you need to buy here is the opening of the hearts and then tune them up for connection between everyone, like a radio receiver on a wave. That’s how everyone can tune in to one common wave, like this common SOS, cordial, and everyone only listens to the common heartbeat of the planet.

Question: Will it ever be like this?

Answer: I think so and maybe soon. Whether in a good way or not is the question.

Question: What will it cost a person? It costs Elon Musk billions. What will it cost a person to open his heart?

Answer: I think that he will have to gradually give himself all to others and cut off growths, crusts, and scabs from his heart. And thus the real heart will be exposed. It will be so. But you can’t buy this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/2/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you prove to your spouse that you love them?“

By conceding to them.

When one spouse concedes to the other, then the other spouse will feel that concession, and will also want to concede in return. Such mutual concessions become a place for love, as is written, “man and woman, and Divinity between them.” Love will then become a third force that is born between the spouses. Love becomes their spiritual baby.

Moreover, the emotion of love that passes from one person to the next is omnipresent outside of us, and thus the emotion that they give birth to is eternal.

Based on the video “The Recipe for Ever-Growing Love” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is Israel politically unstable? Can we expect a clear winner this time?“

The reason for Israel’s political instability today is that we have reached a state where we hate and cannot come close to each other.

Since this flaw has become revealed, now is the time to fix it.

First of all, anyone who enters politics and becomes a government member needs to become corrected. By “correction” I mean that they should undergo a process of inverting egoism—prioritizing self-benefit over benefiting others—to its opposite—prioritizing the benefit of others over oneself. By remaining as egoists, we bring about destruction.

We need to become aware that, as it is written, “man’s inclination is evil from his youth,” and that we need to correct this evil inclination if we are to reach a better state.

How do we reach a state where we mutually understand each other, where we fight our ego instead of fighting each other? That is what we need in order to reach a harmonious and peaceful life without wars, disputes and trials.

There is a single truth, which is love. In contrast with that truth, we were given an egoistic and hateful nature. We simply need to know how to correctly work with the power of hatred in order to reach its opposite, the power of love, and we should invest primarily in learning and teaching how to undergo this transformation.

Based on the video “Why Is Israel Politically Unstable?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Laura Siegal on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will severe food shortages affect the United States in coming months?“

As we develop without taking the meaning of our lives into consideration, then anything is possible. Why not? We need to understand that we cannot kid around with these things.

How is not considering the meaning of our lives connected with possible food shortages and other unfolding crises? It is because without answering the question about the meaning of life, we have no idea how to behave toward one another.

If we were aware about the meaning of our lives, then we would know how to plan our lives. For instance, why do we spend so much money on the military and other useless things? We need to understand the system of life, and how to organize it as a whole so that it can optimally encompass everything.

Food shortages are just one symptom of the deeper problem, and these symptoms emerge in order to awaken us.

The heart of our problems today is human relations. We need to understand that we each host an innate egoistic desire that prioritizes self-benefit over benefiting others and nature, and until we take care of it—learning how to redirect it to enjoy primarily from benefiting others and nature—then we are headed into an abyss.

Based on the video “Will Severe Food Shortages Soon Affect the Western World?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash.

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